COSTA MESA : Candidate Will Protest Brochure

City Council candidate Jay Humphrey denied this week that he allowed a flyer to be inserted into his campaign brochures and then failed to list it as a contribution from a political action committee.

Embattled Councilman Orville Amburgey said he plans to file a complaint about the flyer with the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

Humphrey suggested that Amburgey was merely attempting to distract voters from allegations that the incumbent violated conflict-of-interest laws as a councilman.

City officials have asked the district attorney’s office to decide if Amburgey violated any laws by voting on agreements between the city and the Copley Colony cable television firm while Amburgey’s electrical company was doing business with Copley.

Amburgey has denied any wrongdoing.

Amburgey announced Wednesday that he plans to file a complaint about Humphrey, saying he may have violated state election laws by allowing the flyer to be distributed with a campaign brochure without listing its cost as an in-kind contribution on mandatory campaign finance disclosure forms.

The flyer reproduced a newspaper article and editorial about Amburgey’s acceptance of a $1,000 contribution from the owner of Henry and Harry’s Goal Hill Tavern shortly after voting to uphold the owner’s bid for relief from city restrictions. The flyer lists Citizens for Costa Mesa’s Future as its sponsor.

According to state law, the Fair Political Practices Commission would have to determine whether Humphrey or his campaign workers knowingly inserted the flyer into his brochure before distributing them, said Sandra Michioku, spokesperson for the commission, a watchdog agency. Violations could result in a fine of up to $2,000, she said.

But Humphrey said that neither he nor his campaign workers inserted the flyers in his brochures.

Amburgey, meanwhile, said this week that he will apologize to angry residents who were incorrectly listed as his supporters in a campaign pamphlet.

But teacher Robert S. Crenshaw doesn’t believe Amburgey’s explanation that his computer lists of supporters were mixed in with those of former council candidates.